Introduction; About Pjl - Brother HL-Series Technical Reference Manual

Revision C 16/01/96

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 About PJL

Printer Job Language(PJL) provides job status control by sending the printer status information to the
application. PJL can be a valuable tool for the single-user environment, but is a much more useful tool
for the networking / sharing environment.
PJL allows job-level control that cannot be accomplished with PCL, Postscript or other emulations. PJL
includes five major features.
(1) Printer language switching
With PJL, it is possible to switch positively between the printer languages, such as PCL, Postscript,
Epson, IBM and Diablo directly from applications.
(2) Printer status readback
PJL can provide information such as printer model, configuration, printer feature setting, error
information and other status information to the application.
(3) Front panel control
PJL can remotely control the printer's control panel settings and messages.
(4) Easy of utilization
All PJL commands except UEL command have a user-friendly construction using printable
characters and English words.
(5) Spooler control
PJL provides an improved spooler which can manage the printer better, particularly in a network
environment.
Note :
The commands for Printer status readback or Front panel control can be invoked in modes other than
PCL or BR-Script. However, the commands for printer status readback get the information from PCL
or BR-Script, and the commands for front panel control perform the settings for PCL or BR-Script.
PJL
Emulations ( BR-Script,
PCL, IBM, EPSON etc... )
Printer
Chapter 3 "PJL" - 4